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5 Potential Health Benefits of Lemon Juice

5 Potential Health Benefits of Lemon Juice
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Published on June 27, 2025
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Wellness influencers have started drinking shots of pure lemon juice in hopes of reaping the benefits of this tart citrus fruit. Lemon juice supplies vitamins, antioxidants, and other compounds that may improve digestion, support immunity, and even prevent kidney stones.

Lemon juice can be intense on its own, which is why it’s often diluted with water, mixed with other herbs and spices, or used as a culinary ingredient.

Lemon Juice Nutrition Facts

Here’s a closer look at the nutrition facts for 1 ounce (31 grams) of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

  • Calories: 7
  • Total fat: 0 grams (g)
  • Saturated fat: 0 g
  • Trans fat: 0 g
  • Cholesterol: 0 milligrams (mg)
  • Sodium: 0 mg
  • Total carbohydrate: 2 g
  • Dietary fiber: 0 g
  • Total sugars: <1 g
  • Protein: 0 g
  • Vitamin D: 0 micrograms (mcg)
  • Vitamin C: 12 mg
  • Calcium: 2 mg
  • Iron: 0 mg
  • Potassium: 32 g

5 Possible Health Benefits of Lemon Juice You Should Know About

It’s not just the citrusy scent of lemon that can perk you up — consuming lemon juice may also boost digestion, immune health, and more. Here are five potential benefits of lemon juice.

1. Lemon Juice May Promote Digestion

Lemon juice is acidic, which can be beneficial for digestion. “I’m a big fan of lemon juice water in the morning because it activates the digestive system in a positive way,” says Abigail Hueber, RD, a functional dietitian and the owner of Above Health Nutrition in Boston.

Most anyone can benefit from lemon water in the morning (see recipe below), but especially those who could use digestive support, says Hueber.

Some folks have a low production of stomach acid (called hypochlorhydria), which has various causes, including bacterial infections like H. pylori, acid-reducing medications (like proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs), and chronic stress.

 “Lemon water helps create a more acidic environment in the stomach, which can improve digestion,” Hueber explains.

Lemon juice is not a cure for digestive concerns, but drinking 16 ounces (oz) of water with ¼ to ½ of a squeezed lemon in the morning is a good way to jump-start digestion, Hueber says.

2. Lemon Juice Is Rich in Antioxidants

Lemon juice can supplement a healthy, balanced diet by providing antioxidants, says Laura M. Ali, RD, a culinary nutritionist in Pittsburgh. Antioxidants are important for health because these compounds may prevent or delay cell damage caused by free radicals (unstable molecules that can damage DNA).

Vitamin C is one antioxidant found in lemon juice. One ounce of lemon juice offers 12 mg of vitamin C, making it a good source of the nutrient that, as an antioxidant, may help prevent cancer and heart disease.

3. Lemon Juice May Support Immune Function

Vitamin C is also key for immune function. Importantly, vitamin C acts as an antioxidant and supports the function of immune cells that fight off illness.

4. Lemon Juice Promotes Hydration

Squeezing fresh lemon into a glass of water may help you stay hydrated. “The fresh flavor lemon juice adds often makes drinking water more enticing and refreshing,” says Ali.

Lemon juice on its own is not more hydrating than other fluids, says Melanie Betz, RD, a registered dietitian and the founder of the Kidney Dietitian in Chicago. But if incorporating lemon juice helps you drink more water, that’s a win.

5. Lemon Juice May Help Prevent Kidney Stones

Lemon juice contains citric acid, a compound that can ward off calcium kidney stones (a common type of kidney stone composed of calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate).

 “Citric acid, or citrate, can help prevent calcium-based kidney stones by binding to calcium in the urine and creating a soluble complex that dissolves calcium out of urine,” Betz says.

While this may reduce your chances of developing a kidney stone, it’s unlikely to dissolve or pass an existing stone, she notes. (Be sure to speak to your doctor about appropriate treatment if you have existing kidney stones.)

But you’d have to drink up to a ½ cup of lemon juice daily to see a significant increase in the amount of citrate in your urine, Betz says. Instead of using lemon juice to prevent kidney stones, she recommends eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and limiting red meat, organ meat, and shellfish (which are high in purines, compounds that prompt uric acid production and encourage the formation of stones).

 A healthy diet will increase urine citrate to help prevent kidney stones.

How to Incorporate Lemon Juice Into Your Lifestyle

Learn ways to integrate lemon juice into your life to reap its potential health benefits.

Practical Tips for Consuming Lemon Juice

Sipping plain lemon juice can be jarring — it can even backfire. “Straight lemon juice is very acidic, which can lead to tooth decay, heartburn, and upset stomach,” says Ali. “It’s best to dilute with water to minimize these effects.”

Hueber recommends mixing the juice from ¼ to ½ of a squeezed lemon into 16 oz of water.

It’s often best to avoid lemon-flavored beverages at the grocery store and stick to pure lemon juice. Store-bought drinks like lemonade or lemon waters may contain a lot of calories and added sugar to counteract the sourness of the lemon juice. It’s also unlikely that they provide much pure lemon juice, says Ali. Read the ingredient label carefully, looking for ingredients like water and lemon juice and limited (or no) added sugars.

Ways to Use It

There are many ways to consume lemon juice besides drinking it. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

  • Use to Replace Salt Lemon juice adds flavor to foods, allowing you to cut back on salt, says Ali. Top soups, salads, meats, seafood, and cooked or roasted vegetables with a squeeze or two of fresh lemon. Give it a taste to see if you still need salt.
  • Stir Into Dressing Thanks to the acidity, lemon juice makes a replacement for vinegar in dressings. Try this tangy recipe from Ali: Mix together three parts olive oil with one part lemon juice and herbs (like basil, parsley, tarragon) and salt and pepper to taste. You can also use this as a marinade for meat and fish.
  • Add to a Juice If you have a juicer or blender, you can create your own juice blend with lemon juice. Combine lemon with ginger, apples, and greens, for example. Or lemon with beets, ginger, and apple. Strain if you’re using a blender (but note that you’ll lose fiber).

The Takeaway

  • Like the fruit it comes from, lemon juice provides many vitamins, antioxidants, and other compounds that are beneficial for health.
  • Lemon juice may promote good digestion and hydration and support immune health. It may also help prevent calcium kidney stones in some people, but experts recommend focusing on eating plant foods and limiting meat if this is a goal.
  • Steer clear of lemon-flavored beverages like lemonade, which often contain added sugars and excess calories.
  • Because lemon juice is very sour, it’s best to mix it with water before drinking. Lemon juice can be used to flavor vegetables, meats, soups, dressings, and more.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Lemon juice, 100%, freshly squeezed. U.S. Department of Agriculture. October 31, 2024.
  2. Hypochlorhydria. Cleveland Clinic. June 27, 2022.
  3. Free Radical. National Cancer Institute.
  4. Vitamin C. National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. March 26, 2021.
  5. Penniston KL et al. Quantitative Assessment of Citric Acid in Lemon Juice, Lime Juice, and Commercially-Available Fruit Juice Products. Journal of Endourology. March 2008.
  6. Kidney Stone Diet Plan and Prevention. National Kidney Foundation.
  7. Movahed S et al. The lacto-vegetarian dietary score and kidney stones are likely to be inversely associated in men but not in women: A case-control study. Human Nutrition & Metabolism. September 2025.
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Sylvia E. Klinger, DBA, MS, RD, CPT

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Sylvia Klinger, DBA, MS, RD, CPT, is an internationally recognized nutrition expert who is relentlessly passionate about helping people fall in love with creating and enjoying delicious, safe, and nutritious foods.

As a food and nutrition communications professional, Dr. Klinger is a global nutrition professor, award-winning author, and the founder of Hispanic Food Communications.

She is on the board at Global Rise to build a formal community nutrition program as part of an ambitious initiative to create a regenerative food system in Uganda in partnership with tribal and community leaders. This program included an extensive training session on food safety and sanitation that displayed cultural sensitivity and various communication strategies and incentives to spread these important food safety and sanitation messages into the communities.

Her Hispanic background fuels her passion for nutrition, leading her to empower and encourage those in her community through the foods they enjoy in their kitchens. At the same time, she understands everyone’s needs are different and seeks to individualize nutrition and exercise to best fit each person and their journey to a happy, safe, and healthy life.

Her latest book, The Little Book of Simple Eating, was published in 2018 in both Spanish and English.

In her spare time, Klinger explores food and culture all over the world with her family, realizing the power a healthy lifestyle has to keep people together.

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Jessica Migala is a freelance writer with over 15 years of experience, specializing in health, nutrition, fitness, and beauty. She has written extensively about vision care, diabetes, dermatology, gastrointestinal health, cardiovascular health, cancer, pregnancy, and gynecology. She was previously an assistant editor at Prevention where she wrote monthly science-based beauty news items and feature stories.

She has contributed to more than 40 print and digital publications, including Cosmopolitan, O:The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Woman’s Day, Women’s Health, Fitness, Family Circle, Health, Prevention, Self, VICE, and more. Migala lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, two young boys, rescue beagle, and 15 fish. When not reporting, she likes running, bike rides, and a glass of wine (in moderation, of course).

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